Boys BBall: Springs holds off Lomira

LOMIRA – The St. Mary's Springs boys basketball team had one goal Friday night: to stop Lomira's Ryan Biffert.

Biffert came into the Flyway contest averaging 26 points per game through just two games, so if the Ledgers were able to contain him, good results were headed their way.

It looked that way early on, as the Ledgers held Biffert scoreless through one quarter. The Ledgers had a 13-3 lead, but then things changed.

The Lomira senior went on to score 11 second quarter points and helped the Lions tie things up at the half.

But then came along Cory Nies.

The Ledger senior scored all 18 of his points in the second half as Springs used a late rally to knock off the Lions, 53-47, in a Flyway Conference game played in Lomira.

"He is a stud, we knew that coming in," Springs coach Kyle Krueger said of Biffert. "We had a goal and we did not keep him below that (scoring), let's just say. He hit some shots when he was guarded, when he was open and he's a phenomenal athlete."

Biffert finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds on the night and helped Lomira (1-2) stay in the game. But Nies was too much down the stretch, as he scored eight points in the final quarter to help the Ledgers (4-0) pick up the win.

"We couldn't hit a three tonight, we hit some big ones in the fourth but when we got to our delay game we start to get confident," Krueger said. "We didn't do a good job attacking the paint. We settled too much for jumpers."

After a 33-33 tie going into the fourth quarter, Lomira took its biggest lead of the night when Biffert hit a jumper to make it 45-40. But Nies scored six straight points to give the Ledgers a 46-45 lead with just three minutes left and they never trailed again.

"Our first quarter was good then people started to get into foul trouble," Nies said. "The second half … the last three games we only had two turnovers and we are good down the stretch and that is what help us won."

Nies started the run after hitting one-of-two free throws, then came down and hit a big 3-pointer to make it 45-44. He then scored on the next possession on a breakaway layup after a Lomira turnover.

"My teammates found me, they got me the ball and things were going my way," Nies said. "I was mad I got the two fouls right away so I couldn't really play. Then I got hot late and it was fun."

It was a slow first quarter for the Lions, who scored only three points – a Justin Lammers 3-pointer. But Lomira went cold after that, not scoring for the next 5 minutes, 18 seconds.

"We just didn't click with what we wanted to do," Lomira head coach Tyler Witkowski said. "We weren't screening, we were very one dimensional. We have a young team and we are trying to break that mold, trying to find different ways to get open. We adjusted at the end of the first quarter."

The adjustment was quite simple for Lomira, give the ball to Biffert.

"We knew he had a lot, he is very talented," Witkowski said. "He does a lot of different things, he's not one dimensional at all. He posted up a few times, went coast-to-coast, shot some 3s, came off screens, just try to get him to score in a variety of ways."

Lucas Gellings, Brennen Ottery and Zachary Hintze each added eight points for the Ledgers, who have been without starting guard Collin Ottery the last three games. Krueger said the senior suffered a sprained ankle in the team's first game but should return late next week.